Yanshan Bandits

Lu Ming was a little surprised that the other party would suddenly ask this question, but apart from the Jade Pendant, he had nothing to hide.

"Reporting to the Elder, firstly, I'm confident that my talent will allow me to quickly learn other martial arts, so I exchanged it for that. Secondly, the sect has treated me well, and there's no issue with exchanging it."

"If you hadn't put your self-consideration first, and only had the second point, I would find it hard to believe."

After listening, Elder Kang smiled, then sighed and continued, "Don't blame me for being suspicious, it's just that I've guarded the Martial Arts Pavilion for so many years and have seen too much of what disciples think and feel."

Lu Ming could understand, but he had a clear conscience and was telling the truth; time would prove everything.

"Alright, let's not talk about this. Just based on what you said, I won't deduct your contribution points for this [Iron Elephant Art]."

Elder Kang said again.

"Thank you, Elder." Lu Ming was delighted.

Afterward, Elder Kang gave him some pointers on practicing the [Iron Elephant Art] and then let him leave.

"It seems cultivating external arts is indeed not easy."

Walking out of the Martial Arts Pavilion, Lu Ming mused inwardly. Elder Kang had just reminded him that practicing external arts not only made progress difficult but also easily injured the body.

Therefore, it required the cooperation of medicinal drugs.

And these drugs were likely not cheap. Although he had many contribution points that could be used for exchange, he wanted to save them for exchanging martial arts.

Therefore, he could only buy them with money.

He currently had over four thousand taels in gold notes and over sixteen thousand taels in silver notes.

Honestly, for a Martial Artist, this wasn't much. After all, a high-quality weapon alone would cost over ten thousand taels.

As for divine weapons, no matter how much gold and silver you had, you couldn't buy them because they required a different kind of currency: Origin Stones.

After Martial Artists entered the True Qi Realm, relying solely on their internal essence and energy was no longer sufficient for cultivation.

Thus, they needed to start absorbing the energy that roamed freely in the air, known as Heaven and Earth Origin Qi.

Origin Stones were the crystallization of Heaven and Earth Origin Qi, and like storage rings and divine weapons, they were divided into four grades: low, medium, high, and supreme.

Lu Ming had heard Chu Yunxiao mention that sect missions, besides giving contribution points, also awarded gold, silver, or Origin Stones.

So, his next plan was to cultivate the martial arts he had obtained and then go take on missions.

"Lu Ming, have you finished choosing your martial arts?"

As soon as he walked out of the Martial Arts Pavilion's area, he happened to run into Cui Bai, who was rushing over.

"You're really slow." Lu Ming saw him arriving late, and he had already been to the Weapon Pavilion, feeling a bit speechless.

Cui Bai gave an awkward smile, "You don't know, after I finished getting ready, I changed my mind and went to the Weapon Pavilion first to see if I could catch up to you. But who knew you had already finished."

Could Lu Ming say that he didn't need to choose? He smiled and said, "Then hurry inside."

Cui Bai nodded and didn't delay. After saying goodbye, he walked inside.

Lu Ming went straight back to his courtyard and began cultivating his martial arts.

As he cultivated, more than four months passed in the blink of an eye. Lu Ming had a total of four martial arts to practice.

The first was three stances of the Heavenly Saber Saber Art; the second was the movement technique [Hundred Mile Qi Convergence]; the third was the Human-grade High Stage claw technique [Tiger Fiend Claw]; and the fourth was the defensive external art [Iron Elephant Art].

After four months of practice, the saber art, movement technique, and claw technique were naturally completed.

Only the [Iron Elephant Art] progressed slowly.

Firstly, after finishing the other three martial arts, there wasn't much time left for this art;

Secondly, he had no money to buy medicine.

Having personally experienced it, he now knew that practicing external arts was indeed a major expense.

The [Iron Elephant Art] was divided into three stages. The first stage was to cultivate the muscles, bones, and skin; upon successful completion, blades and swords would find it difficult to injure him.

The second stage was from external to internal, generating protective True Qi, which could not only defend against blades and swords but also against penetrating forces like internal energy and shockwaves.

The third stage was the convergence of dragon and tiger, unifying internal and external. At this point, within the True Qi Realm, it would be extremely difficult to break through his defenses.

Lu Ming had only completed the first stage, which had consumed most of his money. The remaining amount was not enough to purchase the medicinal drugs to assist in cultivating the second stage.

Therefore, he had already decided to go out and take on missions.

"Soul Chasing!"

In the spacious training room, Lu Ming suddenly vanished from his spot and then, like a fleeting shadow, brushed past a training post.

Swoosh swoosh swoosh!

Instantly, several streams of Saber Qi erupted from within the entire training post, and then it exploded.

This was precisely the fourth stance of the Heavenly Saber Saber Art, the Soul Chasing Style. It was similar to the first stance, the Gale Style, both involving an extremely fast thrust.

The only difference was that the Soul Chasing Style could shoot out several streams of Saber Qi while thrusting.

Looking at his masterpiece, Lu Ming was very satisfied as he sheathed his saber. It seemed the effect of the saber art after completion was very significant.

Next, he took out an ordinary long saber worth over a thousand taels from his storage ring.

He held it with his left hand and injected True Qi into it.

With a "buzz," the saber instantly became incredibly sharp. Lu Ming's expression remained unchanged as he suddenly formed his right hand into a claw and reached for the long saber.

Crack!

In an instant, the long saber, filled with True Qi, was shattered into pieces by his claw.

"This claw's power is indeed not bad."

After testing the [Tiger Fiend Claw], Lu Ming tried out his movement technique. His [Hundred Mile Qi Convergence] could allow him to leap two hundred meters at its furthest, while he could currently only manage one hundred and seventy meters.

It wasn't that he couldn't cultivate it to its peak instantly, but rather his internal True Qi wasn't strong enough.

Although he hadn't forgotten to practice his internal art daily during this time, his True Qi hadn't increased much, only reaching the mid-stage of the Early True Qi Realm.

He had also asked others about this, learning that cultivation would become slower the further one progressed.

It was normal for breakthroughs to take one or two years.

Take Cui Bai, for example; he was still stuck at the early-stage, early phase.

Lu Ming no longer paid it any mind, settling down to continue his cultivation until today.

Now that his cultivation had reached a certain level, progress would be slow in the short term, so he decided to end his training and take on missions to earn money.

"Lu Ming, you're going out?"

As he arrived outside his courtyard, Cui Bai happened to be opening his door.

"I'm planning to take on some missions."

Lu Ming didn't hide anything.

"You're a freak. You've already finished cultivating the martial arts you received in just four months."

During this period, Lu Ming hadn't been training entirely alone. Sometimes he sparred with Cui Bai, exchanging moves and relaxing.

Therefore, Cui Bai had a basic understanding of Lu Ming's cultivation progress.

"Where are you planning to go?" Lu Ming smiled, not dwelling on the topic.

"Where else? The [Hundred Refinements Profound Art] I chose is also a big money sink. Thankfully, I spent half a year in the Wuji Mountain Range last time, otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to sustain it."

Cui Bai sounded somewhat troubled.

Lu Ming naturally knew about his situation. Continuing his previous style, he had also chosen a cultivation technique that focused on both internal and external arts.

Moreover, it was a Human-grade Peak Stage technique.

He hadn't originally planned to choose like this, but as soon as he saw the [Hundred Refinements Profound Art], he couldn't take his eyes off it.

Therefore, he used his beginner's benefits and two Human-grade High Stage martial arts he chanced upon in the Wuji Mountain Range to exchange for it.

Since practicing external arts required beating up the body, the two of them had beaten each other up quite a bit during this time.

"Then we're going the same way."

Afterward, the two of them traveled together until they parted at the crossroads. Lu Ming headed towards the Mission Hall under Cui Bai's cautionary advice.

The Mission Hall was still bustling with activity. Some were discussing mission progress, others were discussing mission information, and some were sharing interesting anecdotes from their missions.

In short, all sorts of information could be heard.

"Did you hear? Senior Brother Feng Chao, who is ranked eleventh, took on a Level 5, 2-star mission alone."

"What? Level 5 missions are something even core disciples don't dare to take on alone, let alone a Level 5, 2-star mission."

Upon hearing this news, the surroundings erupted in discussion. Lu Ming couldn't help but perk up his ears to listen.

"What exactly is the mission?" someone asked.

"I know. It's to eliminate the Yanshan Bandits roaming the Iron Horse Plain. I heard this group of bandits robbed a family's goods a while ago, so it's probably their bounty."

"The Yanshan Bandits? I heard their leader is at the Late True Qi Realm, and they have several deputy leaders at the Early and Mid True Qi Realm, plus no less than twenty bandits at the Inner Qi Realm. Can Senior Brother Feng Chao handle them alone?"

"Since he took it, he must be confident. I heard he has mastered an extremely powerful leg technique."

The crowd chimed in, some expressing admiration, others worry, and some deeming it unwise.

"Let's go. It seems Feng Chao has started to make his move. He's bound to break into the top ten in the next Inner Sect Grand Competition. We can't fall behind and get squeezed out."

Standing at the entrance of the hall were two exceptionally distinct youths. Lu Ming happened to be standing nearby.

"That's not making a move, that's clearly going mad," the other replied with a wry smile.

Then the two departed, seemingly spurred on by the news.

"These two should be among the top ten in the Inner Sect."

Lu Ming heard their words and sensed their cultivation realms – Late True Qi Realm – so he guessed in his heart.

Without overthinking, having heard so much information, he too felt a surge of motivation and directly walked into the hall.